Rural Fire Trail / Hazard Reduction SWMS

Rural fire trail maintenance and hazard reduction burns involve crews operating chainsaws, mulchers, and slashing equipment in remote bushland to reduce fuel loads ahead of fire season. The work is typically delivered by contractors engaged by Rural Fire Service brigades, local government, National Parks, or private landholders under bushfire risk management plans. Because the scope routinely involves tree felling above two metres, mobile plant operation on steep or unstable terrain, and exposure to ignition sources in declared fire weather, the work meets the definition of High Risk Construction Work under WHS Regulation 2011 r291 and triggers mandatory Safe Work Method Statement preparation before any task commences. Without a documented SWMS reviewed at pre-start, PCBUs cannot demonstrate consultation, hazard identification, or control verification — exposing the business to enforcement action and workers to fatal incidents from tree strike, machine rollover, or burnover. This template captures the controls a CIH would expect on a compliant rural fuel reduction site.

Hazards identified

7 hazards covered, sorted by priority.

Control measures

Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.

1. 1Elimination — Cancel or postpone all cutting and burning works when Fire Danger Rating reaches Extreme or Catastrophic, or when Total Fire Ban is declared by the relevant state authority.
2. 2Elimination — Remove identified hung-up trees and widow-makers from work zone using mechanical winching before ground crew enters the felling area.
3. 3Substitution — Replace manual chainsaw felling with excavator-mounted mulcher or grapple saw on slopes above 15 degrees or in fire-weakened timber stands.
4. 4Substitution — Substitute petrol two-stroke saws with battery-electric chainsaws on smaller works to reduce ignition sources, fuel handling, and operator vibration exposure.
5. 5Engineering — Operate only mobile plant fitted with compliant ROPS, FOPS, spark arrestors, and onboard 9kg dry powder extinguishers per AS 2444 mounted within operator reach.
6. 6Engineering — Establish minimum 4-metre mineral earth control lines around burn perimeter using grader or dozer before ignition, with water tanker on standby.
7. 7Administrative — Conduct documented pre-start brief reviewing this SWMS, current Fire Danger Rating, BoM forecast, escape routes, and trigger points for withdrawal each shift.
8. 8Administrative — Maintain two-way radio communication with brigade control on designated channel, with mandatory check-in every 30 minutes and lone-worker prohibition for chainsaw tasks.
9. 9PPE — Issue AS/NZS 4453.3 chainsaw protective trousers, AS/NZS 1801 helmet with mesh visor and earmuffs, structural firefighting gloves, and Proban-treated wildland fire shirts and trousers.
10. 10PPE — Carry personal drinking water (minimum 4 litres per worker per shift), snake bite compression bandages, and personal flare or PLB for remote terrain emergency signalling.

Applicable Codes of Practice

High-Risk Construction Work triggered

Worked example

A two-person contract crew is engaged by a regional council to mulch a 3-kilometre strategic fire trail along a ridgeline ahead of the declared bushfire season. At the trailhead at 06:30, the supervisor opens this SWMS on a ruggedised tablet and walks the offsider through each hazard line by line. They check the Bureau of Meteorology forecast — Fire Danger Rating sits at High, winds forecast to reach 25 km/h by 14:00 — and mark the trigger point on the SWMS to withdraw if winds exceed 30 km/h or the FDR escalates. They identify two leaning fire-damaged stringybarks in section 2 and select the engineering control of grapple-saw removal rather than ground felling, ticking the substituted control on the document. Both workers sign on, acknowledging the chainsaw kickback, struck-by, and heat stress controls. At 11:40 the offsider radios that he has spotted a hung-up limb the crew missed in the walkthrough; they pause work, return to the SWMS, document the additional hazard in the variations field, and apply the winch removal control before resuming. The signed and annotated SWMS is uploaded to the council compliance portal at end of shift as evidence of consultation and dynamic risk management.

Related legislation

• WHS Act 2011 (model)
• WHS Regulation 2025
• Managing the Risks of Plant in Rural Workplaces CoP; AS 2789 — Quad bikes

Frequently asked questions